Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to merchant payment systems and more particularly to a merchant point of sale payment system that may be purposed as a security system.
Related Art
Merchants typically have physical locations such as, for example, “brick and mortar” stores, where the merchant sells products and/or services. Those merchant physical locations typically include point of sale (POS) systems having one or more POS devices for receiving payments from customers for products and/or services, and may include merchant-assisted checkout computers, customer self-checkout computers, tablet checkout computers, mobile checkout computers, mobile wearable customer engagement computers, and/or a variety of other POS devices known in the art. Such POS systems can be relatively expensive but are necessary to enable the merchant to receive payments from customers for their products and/or services. Many merchant physical locations also include security systems to protect the merchant physical location from theft. Those security systems can include cameras and motion sensors for detecting unauthorized access to the merchant physical location, and in some cases contact the police in response to a detected breach of security. Such security systems are also relatively expensive and may require professional setup and maintenance.
As discussed in further detail below, there is a need for an improved security system that may be realized by repurposing a merchant POS system when, for example, that POS system is not in use, which results in the reduction of costs for the merchant by negating the need to purchase and implement a separate security system.
Embodiments of the present disclosure and their advantages are best understood by referring to the detailed description that follows. It should be appreciated that like reference numerals are used to identify like elements illustrated in one or more of the figures, wherein showings therein are for purposes of illustrating embodiments of the present disclosure and not for purposes of limiting the same.